The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), in partnership with Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and Africa50, has launched a $300 million Nigeria Distributed Renewable Energy (DRE) Fund aimed at expanding electricity access to underserved communities and businesses across the country.
The partners announced the commercial launch of the fund on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, marking the transition from the fund’s structuring phase to active capital deployment.
The initiative is designed to mobilise private-sector investment in distributed renewable energy solutions, including mini-grids and standalone solar systems, particularly in communities and businesses that remain underserved by conventional electricity infrastructure.
The fund is also expected to contribute to Mission 300, the continental initiative seeking to connect 300 million people across Africa to electricity by 2030.
Speaking on the initiative, NSIA Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Aminu Umar-Sadiq, said the launch demonstrated that Nigeria’s distributed renewable energy market was ready for investment on a large scale.
He said the operationalisation of the fund came at a critical period when distributed renewable energy solutions were becoming increasingly important to closing electricity-access gaps, supporting economic activities and strengthening energy security.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of Africa50, Alain Ebobissé, said the strength of the initiative lay in the partnership between organisations with local market knowledge, pan-African investment capacity, energy-access expertise and development-financing experience.
“Together, we are turning Nigeria’s energy needs into investable opportunities and building a model that can scale across Africa,” he said.
Also speaking, Damilola Ogunbiyi, Chief Executive Officer and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, said the fund would support Nigeria’s electricity-access ambitions and the objectives of Mission 300.
She said the dedicated financing mechanism would help scale distributed renewable energy while demonstrating how country-led initiatives could translate Mission 300’s ambition into concrete investments and electricity connections.
The Director-General of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), Ashish Khanna, described the initiative as a significant financing model for expanding private-sector-led distributed renewable energy across Africa.
According to him, the fund’s scale and structure could demonstrate how innovative financial mechanisms can mobilise capital more efficiently, strengthen local energy markets and accelerate efforts towards universal electricity access.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of Operations at the World Bank Group, Anna Bjerde, said reliable and affordable electricity was essential for job creation and economic transformation across Africa.
She disclosed that the World Bank was a founding partner of the initiative, with an initial $25 million contribution from the International Development Association (IDA) to help bridge funding gaps and support electricity connections for communities across the continent.
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